When the starting gates spring open each May at Pimlico Race Course, horse racing enthusiasts commemorate more than solely the Preakness Stakes — they pay tribute to a heritage originating from the foresight of one individual: Oden Bowie. As both a governor and a dedicated sportsman, Bowie recognized the capacity for Maryland to ascend as a national leader in the realm of Thoroughbred racing. His resolve to establish a premier equestrian facility culminated in the founding of Pimlico Race Course in 1870, a venue destined to quickly host one of America’s most esteemed competitions. The inaugural running of the Preakness Stakes in 1873 would firmly establish the state’s central position in the sport, a custom that persists over 150 years later.
Bowie’s enduring impact is intricately integrated into the rich tradition of Maryland’s racing history. From his ambitious goals for Pimlico to his initiation of iconic races such as the Preakness, his narrative embodies foresight, endurance, and the enduring mystique of galloping hooves on the third Saturday in May.
Cultivator and Statesman
Similar to many distinguished gentlemen of his era, Oden Bowie cherished horses and horse racing. His family’s considerable assets enabled his participation in sporting life: the eldest son of William Duckett Bowie and Eliza Mary Oden, Bowie inherited the family’s Fairview Plantation situated near Collington, Md. He received his initial schooling from a private instructor at Fairview before attending St. John’s College in Annapolis subsequent to his mother’s passing, and then continued his education at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, completing his degree in 1845.
Upon concluding his academic pursuits, Bowie enlisted in the Army and served during the Mexican-American War, achieving the rank of Captain by the conflict’s conclusion. He subsequently returned to his home state of Maryland and emulated the career paths of his father and his uncle Robert Bowie, transitioning into politics. Oden secured a position in the state’s House of Delegates, holding office from 1849 to 1867, and subsequently in the Maryland Senate prior to pursuing the governorship, a post his uncle had occupied on two occasions. Oden Bowie assumed the role of the state’s first post-Civil War governor in 1869 and withdrew from the political sphere when his term concluded in 1872.
In addition to owning Fairview Plantation, the Bowie lineage also constructed the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, which facilitated connecting southern Maryland to various parts of the Mid-Atlantic, thereby fostering greater commercial expansion within the region. This affluence allowed Bowie to dedicate his years following public office to investing in the breeding and racing of Thoroughbreds. Equines such as Crickmore, Oriole, and Dickens competed adorned in the distinctive Bowie red and white striped silks, and William Woodward, who would later breed and own Triple Crown victors Gallant Fox and Omaha, actively sought out Fairview bloodstock after Bowie’s demise in 1894.
Oden Bowie’s most significant contribution to the sport commenced not within Maryland, but rather in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where a celebratory event inspired a classic race.
Athletic Enthusiast and Futurist
Prior to assuming his gubernatorial duties in Maryland, Bowie journeyed northward to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to observe the competitions at the nascent Saratoga Race Course. The locality had functioned as a racing center long before the new circuit opened in 1863, yet this modern establishment, backed by prominent figures like John Morrissey, William Travers, and Leonard Jerome, transformed Saratoga into an annual destination for elite racing stables. During Bowie’s visit in 1868, his acquaintance Milton Sanford triumphed in the 2¼-mile Saratoga Cup with Lancaster, and subsequently, the victorious owner channeled his elation into a grand gathering at the Union Hall Hotel. Bowie was among the attendees, and historical accounts seem to suggest that this was quite a lively affair.
Financier John Hunter proposed that the evening’s memory be enshrined with a stakes race. Bowie interjected, suggesting that such a competition ought to be held in Maryland and that he would construct a novel racetrack near Baltimore for the occasion. Several proprietors in attendance, including Sanford, pledged their horses to enter the Dinner Party Stakes, provisionally slated for an occurrence two years hence. Upon Bowie’s return home, he commenced the undertaking of erecting a new horse racing track in the vicinity of Baltimore.
The Maryland Jockey Club was founded in 1743 and persevered through various configurations during the Revolutionary War and into the 19th century, conducting intermittent assemblies in Annapolis before relocating its operations to Baltimore. They functioned at the Central Course adjacent to the city on Frederick Pike but decided to transition to Bowie’s envisioned racing circuit. The MJC acquired 70 acres near Jones Falls for $23,500 and subsequently erected Pimlico Race Course, named after the area encompassing the freshly constructed premises, at a cost of $25,000. Bowie’s newly established racetrack, the very one promised two years earlier at the Union Hall Hotel, commenced operations on Oct. 25, 1870, featuring a program of four races. The third event on the schedule was the much-anticipated Dinner Party Stakes.
Contesting for a prize of $19,000, seven equines proceeded to the starting gate, competing on behalf of proprietors such as August Belmont, Milton Sanford, and Bowie himself. Sanford’s bay colt, Preakness, a progeny of Lexington, claimed victory in the two-mile stakes, surpassing Thomas Doswell’s Ecliptic, thereby being recorded in annals as the initial champion of the Dinner Party Stakes, an event that continues within Pimlico’s distinguished racing agenda over a century and a half onward. Preakness subsequently competed for an additional six competitive periods, concluding his career with statistics of 18 first-place finishes, 12 second-place finishes, and two third-place finishes across 39 engagements.
Following three years subsequent to his triumph in the initial Dinner Party Stakes, the Maryland Jockey Club incorporated a fresh stakes event for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds into its schedule, a 1 1/2-mile premier contest named in honor of Sanford’s equine. The inaugural Preakness Stakes constituted the second of four races on May 27, 1873, with seven competitors confronting the starting official for a prize of $2,050. H. Price McGrath entered Artist in this competition, occurring two years prior to his securing the first Kentucky Derby victory with Aristides. Two participants, Oakland and Periwinkle, raced on behalf of August Belmont, whereas Oden Bowie also had his horse, Catesby, in the field. Survivor commenced 1873 without a single win at two years old and arrived at Pimlico for his season’s debut in the newly established Preakness Stakes. Piloted by the future Hall of Fame jockey George Barbee, he achieved an effortless win, concluding 10 lengths ahead of Catesby.
Both Pimlico and the Preakness thrived under Bowie’s direction until increased rivalry from neighboring racing venues, such as Monmouth, Brighton Beach, among others, complicated efforts to draw equines to the Baltimore vicinity. The Maryland Jockey Club relinquished its tenancy of Pimlico for slightly more than ten years before resuming operations at the circuit in 1905, a full decade after Bowie’s demise in 1894. An event known as the Preakness Stakes was initially featured at Morris Park in 1890 and subsequently at Gravesend in New York from 1894 through 1908; by 1909, the Preakness had rejoined Pimlico’s program of races, where it has continuously been held.
Previously facing potential closure, an updated Pimlico facility will soon welcome devotees of racing, a hundred and fifty years after Oden Bowie’s foresight bestowed upon the sport one of its most celebrated tracks and its defining competition, the central element of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.
